


They Storm the Earth and Stun the Air

by Oshun



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: Gen, Spoilers for all four books in the series.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-09 10:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4344797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oshun/pseuds/Oshun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a meme which requires that one use a randomly selected line of poetry as a prompt for a ficlet. The title of this fic is a line from the poem "From all the Jails the Boys and Girls" by Emily Dickinson.</p><p>Thanks for the Beta read to IgnobleBard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Storm the Earth and Stun the Air

Having barely escaped the routing of the Median troops by the allied forces of Attolia, Sounis, and Eddis, Ambassador Akretenesh cursed under his breath. He tried to rinse an imagined taste of rank salt water out of his mouth with strong, sweet Median wine. Sodden, having waded through the crashing waves into the rescue boat, he felt venomous with rage and frustration.  
  
“It was hard enough to believe the stunted little freak first won the Queen of Attolia’s hand and now he rules with her as King in his own right.”  
  
“Yes, my lord,” his slave and competent assistant Nomenus said. “He may be smallish—and there is the matter of the missing hand—but his face is comely enough. People claim now that she truly loves him and always did.” Akretenesh scowled at him. Someday he would go too far.  
  
“Humph!” he snorted. “Now he has somehow brokered peace with the new King of Sounis in exchange for everlasting fealty and economic and strategic advantages that, for all intents and purposes, amount to a joining of the two kingdoms.”  
  
“They say the young King Sophos is an old friend and comrade who worships King Eugenides.”  
  
“They’ve not been alive long enough to have ‘old friends.’ The lot of them are a flock of naive youths.”  
  
“Respectfully, master, not so naïve.” His tone did not sound the least bit respectful. “They have us on the run, do they not? Rumor has it that the announcement of a marriage agreement between Eugenides’ cousin, the ruling Queen of Eddis, and the King of Sounis should be expected. It would make sense.” He looked to Akretenesh for acknowledgement and getting none continued. “They say . . . “ he said, before Akretenesh cut him off.  
  
“What else do ‘they say,’ Nomenus? You are clearly going to tell me whether I want to hear it or not!”  
  
“Ahem,” he began. “They say, that Eugenides, the King of Attolia, the Thief of Eddis, liege lord to his dear friend the King of Sounis, ushers in a new era of peace and prosperity with the blessings of the gods. They say that he will reign as the Annux—an august title they use which roughly means King of Kings—of the three nations.”  
  
“It’s utterly unfathomable!” _Unfathomable as well how the slippery Nomenus had collected all of this information so quickly._  
  
Nomenus shrugged at him and pursed his lips together in an irksome way, as though to say, ‘Perhaps not so unfathomable.’ With the greatest difficulty Akretenesh refrained from showing a visible reaction to his impertinence. He would need every defender he could get when he reached home with this latest news, even if one was only an impudent slave.


End file.
